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19 <br />published accounts of engineering details for the entire project can be <br />found in Powell (1917) and Anonymous (1961). There were 170 mi of associ- <br />ated canals, 400 miles of laterals, and 205 miles of drains in 1909, <br />according to Beidleman (1959b). Anonymous (1961), listed 143 mi of <br />canals, 425 mi of laterals, and 215 mi of drains by 1958. Although the <br />later values do not seem to have changed much historically, it was sur- <br />mised from Powell (1917) that the capacities of many of the canals and <br />laterals were greatly enlarged or modified just before or soon after the <br />completion of the tunnel. <br />From its completion to the end of 1931, the Tunnel was operated by <br />the Bureau of Reclamation. Since then, the project has been operated <br />and maintained by the Uncompahgre Valley Water Users Association through <br />a 12-man board of directors (Harris 1962). According to Beidleman (1963), <br />the Gunnison River stretch from the Tunnel to Red Rocks (mostly within <br />the Monument) had been withdrawn from public use by the Reclamation <br />Service, but he did not say exactly when they did this. Presumably, this <br />closure was some time after the Reclamation Service was established in <br />1902, but probably before 1910 when the primary construction of the Tun- <br />nel was completed. <br />Although the Uncompahgre Project was originally designed to irri- <br />gate about 146,000 acres from a combination of the Uncompahgre River <br />flow and the tunnel's theoretical capacity of 1,300 cfs, such values <br />were never attained. Harris (1962), manager of the Water Users at that <br />time, noted the area of project lands irrigated was about 70,000 acres, <br />or half the original estimate. Between 1948 and 1958, lands irrigated <br />have varied between 60,345 and 74,207 acres (Anonymous 1961). Current <br />U.S.G.S. records list Gunnison River diversions through the Tunnel for